There are, of course, numerous devices for conveying, particularly with displays, information to the users of broadcast receivers, particularly, home and auto radio receivers. Such displays have taken the form of using 7-segment gas diodes, light emitting diodes and even liquid crystal display panels to provide the user information about the frequency of the station to which he is listening. An example of a liquid crystal display is shown in the U.S. Pat. to Schiebelhuth No. 4,040,719. Another such patent is the U.S. Pat. to Oshawa No. 4,123,714. In this patent, the liquid crystal display merely advises the user whether the broadcast is stereo or monaural. Still another patent concerned with displaying the broadcast frequency to the user is the U.S. Pat. to Froeliger No. 4,495,651.
A conventional scanning receiver is one which can be operated to scan over a portion of the broadcast frequency spectrum to stop at a received station having a sufficient signal strength and permit a user to listen to or watch that. station. Such receivers for instance, are often provided in vehicles and operated to scan either AM or FM bands to stop at the first station received for a period of time to permit the user to decide if the station received is one he wants to listen to or to let the scanning operation resume.
The usefulness and attractiveness of receivers can be enhanced considerably by the provision of a receiver capable of conveying greater amounts of information to the user. Likewise, by the provision of a preprogramming capability, the foregoing and other advantages to the user can be had.
Therefore, it is an object of this invention to provide a novel receiver capable of conveying a large amount of information to the user.
It is another object of this invention to provide a novel receiver capable of being programmed by the user while at the same time displaying information about the program or other data entered into a memory.
It is another object of this invention to provide a novel broadcast receiver capable of scanning a broadcast band based on a selective fashion to receive a station broadcasting in a format desired by a user.
It is a further object to this invention to provide a novel broadcast receiver capable of providing a user with information about varying broadcast formats which might be available and permitting the user to select the format the wishes to receive and then to scan a broadcast band until that format is received.
A still further object to this invention is to provide a novel broadcast receiver having data pre-stored in a memory means representing a plurality of identifying attributes of a number of broadcast stations, is for instance throughout the U.S., and cooperating with computer means to permit a user to cause the receiver to scan a broadcast band until a station with one of those identifying attributes selected by the user, format for instance is received.
Another object of this invention is to provide a novel broadcast receiver having a means of communicating to a user various types of broadcasting formats so that the user can select the format he wishes to receive and cause the receiver to scan scan a selected broadcast band until the selected format is received, if it is available within the range of the receiver.